With the arrival of the information age, the Internet has come to play an increasingly important role in people's lives. People are able to acquire all kinds of information rapidly and in real-time via the Internet. Internet applications have provided people with great convenience in their lives and in their work. It has thus become a technology with very broad applications today.
Because of its universality, the Internet has become a convenient vehicle for business. Business that is realized via the Internet is generally referred to as Internet business or electronic commerce (e-commerce). There are currently many types of Internet businesses, which are primarily realized through websites that are supported by corresponding web servers. For example, web servers primarily provide various kinds of transaction services to major users through transaction-based websites. Transaction-based websites include physical transaction services, information transaction services, and so on. Transaction-based services on such websites are mainly provided as follows: descriptive information associated with a business object that is sold by a seller user is displayed at a web page and prospective buyer users may view the web page and decide to purchase the business object. For example, a business object may comprise a physical product or a non-physical product (such as a set of information). If the business object is physical, the descriptive information displayed on the web page associated with the business object could be a picture of the physical object and its name, use, price, and other such information. If the business object is non-physical (e.g., a digital file), the descriptive information displayed on the web page could be a summary of, or key fields from, this information. After the seller user of the business object has submitted the descriptive information on the business object to the web server associated with selling the business object, prospective buyer users may visit the web page associated with the business object and make a selection associated with purchasing the business object. For example, in response to a prospective buyer user's selection to purchase the business object, a request is sent to the web server associated with selling the business object, and the web server may complete the user's transaction. Completion of the user's transaction may include requesting that the user perform login to the website associated with selling the business object and/or requesting that the user provide payment information (e.g., credit card information).
Conventionally, when a prospective buyer user decides to purchase a business object that is advertised on a web page, his or her selection is likely based on the attribute information of the business object that is included in the displayed descriptive information associated with the business object. For example, the prospective buyer may base his or her decision to purchase or not purchase the business object on the name, use, pictures, and other attribute information that are included in the descriptive information of the business object displayed on the web page. However, there are some disadvantages to having prospective buyer users make decisions whether to purchase or not purchase a business object based primarily on the attribute information displayed for the business object, such as the following:
First, there is a great volume and variety of business objects being sold at various websites on the Internet. While visiting the web page associated with advertising business objects, prospective buyer users may experience uncertainty about whether or not to purchase any particular business object. While a user remains undecided about whether to purchase a business object, the user may hold off on purchasing the business object but repeatedly visit the same web pages at which the business object is sold. However, such web pages may feature a static set of attribute information associated with the business object that was submitted by the seller user when the business object first became available at the website. As such, no matter how many times the user checks back at the web page associated with the business object, the user is unlikely to be persuaded to purchase the business object based on repeatedly reviewing the same, static set of attribute information.
Second, various different websites may sell the same business object (e.g., each website could display the same business object and with similar attribute information), which could cause prospective buyer users to spend time comparing the attribute information displayed at the different websites for the same business object. For example, a user who is undecided about purchasing a business object may end up visiting several different websites that sell the business object. However, because each website may offer similar attribute information for the business object, the user is unlikely to be persuaded to purchase the business object from any particular website. Therefore, the user may not proceed with buying the business object through any website.
Both of the problems described above involve a user repeatedly visiting the same or different web page that advertises a business object that the user is undecided about purchasing. However, each time the user visits a web page associated with a business object, the data associated with the web page must be requested, which will consume a certain amount of network resources (e.g., for the requesting client device, the web server associated with servicing the requests, and/or any networks in between the client device and the web server). Therefore, the more times a user visits a web page associated with a certain business object, the greater the amount of network transmission resources that will be occupied. The increase in occupied network resources becomes even more obvious as the number of users conducting multiple visits to the business objects increases (e.g., because a lag may be experienced in between requests for web page data).